A walk in the woods

Most weekends I take a long urban hike with friends. Forest Park, beginning in Upper MacClay Park and taking the Wildwood trail and the Wild Cherry trail is a favorite with us. At this time of year, it's always cool and beautiful in the woods - summer heat hasn't taken its toll on the lush greenery yet.

The early spring flowers are over, but there are a lot of plants still flowering, and berries are starting to show, too. Here are some of the fruit and flowers we saw on this morning's hike, with my tentative IDs of them.

Polygonatum Biflorum, or Solomon's Seal (correction: Streptopus lanceolatus, or Rosy Twisted Stalk: thank you, Anonymous.) Still beautiful orange berries!

Actea Rubra, baneberry. These pretty red berries are poisonous.

Unidentified ... does anyone know this? I'm sure those luscious-looking berries are poisonous, too.

Candy Flower, Claytonia Sibirica, native to Siberia and the Northwest. You can't see it well in my fuzzy photo, but each white flower petal has several tiny purple stripes radiating from the base.

Lillium Columbianum, also called Tiger Lily, Columbia Lily and Oregon Lily.

Gorgeous Tiger Lily spots from underneath.
I think we need a few of these in the Northwest Territory at Longview Ranch.

The tree canopy in Forest Park.
Looking up at it today, a friend remarked, "I feel safe here."
I know just how he felt.

A tiny agave survey...don't blink!

I've been gardening all my adult life, but there's a horde of plants out there I know nothing about. I've never lived in the southwest, so the agave family is new to me. But I've been gaining an appreciation for them here in Portland, after following some garden blogs like Danger Garden and nestmaker for awhile (links to the right, since I haven't figured out the live link thing.)

For me, agaves might be in the same category as pit bulls or pugs: at first you can't quite figure out what all the fuss is about, but once your eyes get opened to their delights and good points (!), you find yourself actually defending them when you hear people being critical. There's no zealot like a convert, I suppose.

Anyway, I've acquired some agaves - three, to be exact. And in honor of agave week over at Danger Garden they're pictured below.
A. scabra, said to reach 3-5 feet. Hope I planted it far enough away from the sidewalk.

A. bracteosa. I think this looks like a smooth, green octopus. Garden place yet to come.

A. filifera. Love the threads! Maybe a nice pot is the best place for this one.

Tropical Solstice

In news of the solstice today, the loropetalum chinensis 'sizzling pink' has cleverly arranged to be seen in the company of some common, lime green montbretia leaves, occasioning a positive comment from Mr. Mulchmaid regarding the attractive contrast. Perhaps it will manage to find a place in the gardens of Longview Ranch after all.

The tropical elements of Longview Ranch are coming into play as the cannas increase in size and leaf pattern. It should be known that these cannas were a "bargain buy" mixed bag from Fred Meyer, so they cannot be expected to rival any choice cultivars purchased by name. But the Mulchmaid was looking for big leaves and summer color here, so she's happy that the leaves, at least, are showing some character.
The common callas are still in bloom, but a smaller species zantedeschia is showing its wonderfully speckled leaves as it matures. Having dug up and potted the dormant calla over winter, the MulchMaid was delighted to find she'd missed a piece of the rhizome, which came up just as robustly as the one she'd potted. Two for one - always a good deal.
The trachelospermum jasminoides is putting on a show. The Mulchmaids had grand plans for two of these vines to smother parts of the chainlink fence where they are planted. After barely surviving winter, they are looking surprisingly perky this spring. Maybe the plans aren't too grandiose after all.
Achillea millefolium 'paprika', planted last year, has come back like gangbusters and is overwhelming the front of the border. Funny, the Mulchmaid just didn't remember this bluish-red...isn't paprika usually sort of an orangy-red color?
And speaking of bluish-reds, a couple of Don Featherstone originals arrived on Father's Day, just in time to add a little over-the-top Solstice style to the tropics at Longview Ranch.

Bloom Day - June 09

Okay, let's get the roses out of the way first.
I inherited an entire hell strip full of them, and three sad-looking azaleas from the previous owner. Roses would never have been my choice in that area, but there they were and I didn't have the heart to pull them out (the azaleas, however, went as soon as possible.) I filled in with lavender and other herbs so there'd be something there in winter. The payoff is watching the multitude of neighborhood children smell everything as they walk by. The blooms are at a perfect height for toddlers.

These common callas (Zantedeschia aethiopica) were in the front yard, but we moved them to the amended beds in the "tropical" area. They are VERY happy there and beautifully lush. They're so tall they're peeking up over the window in the breakfast room.

A sweet little orange potentilla. The other one I bought at the same time has reverted to the standard intense yellow. I think it doesn't get enough sun.

I wish you could smell this dwarf Meyer lemon blossom. It's intoxicatingly sweet, and wafts toward you on the slightest breeze.

My favorite little sisyrinchium, E.K. Balls. Unfortunately, it's sterile, so to get more, I have to buy more. Not like its big sister, sisyrynchium Californicum, which freely self-seeds (how appropriate...)

The bloom day tour wouldn't be complete without a vegetable flower. This is a Brandywine tomato, a delicious heirloom variety.

And one last rose, but this is a special one: Perle d'Or. We've had this lovely little polyantha rose in a pot for at least ten years. It came to us as a cutting from Mr. Mulchmaid's great Aunt Jenny, who grew this rose at her family home in Southeast Portland for more than fifty years. It's precious to us, as are our memories of her.

One man's weed ...

... is another woman's flower.

I took these pictures today at a bank on the corner of SW Fifth and Washington in downtown Portland. For decades, this 60s planter had been filled with some nondescript box-woody shrubbery that surrounded an odd sculptural fountain. A few years ago the fountain must have failed because it was drained and never refilled. When the shrubs succumbed to the Great Winter of 2009, they were unceremoniously hauled out and nothing else was planted.

But looking completely legitimate, some kind of tall, slim weed has filled the void this spring. It's in full bloom now, and its ferny heads of tiny yellow flowers are a beautiful sight. Shhh, don't tell the bank!

A vegetable survey of Longview Ranch

When we moved into Longview Ranch, we didn't think we'd be growing vegetables except in containers. But since we've added clean soil, and kept the garden pesticide and insecticide free for two years it feels safer to grow food in the ground. That, coupled with our expanse of yet-to-fill-in garden beds, prompted us to get a little giddy and add some veggies in with our ornamentals.

We've had tomatoes in barrels for the three summers we've lived at Longview Ranch. This year they're holding a Bonny Best, an Early Girl and after much searching, a San Marzano plum-type the wonderful folks at Pistils saved for us.

Then we added a Stupice to the Northwest Territory. It's an ultra-early heirloom tomato and one of our favorites. We also have a Better Boy and a Brandywine in the south backgarden.

Also off-theme in the Northwest area are three squashes: the Cue Ball and the Black Beauty zucchini are summer squashes, and we added a Table Ace acorn squash that will run around the berm as it matures.


Rounding out the array are two Ichiban oriental eggplants (perfect for grilling when they are ripe) and some Brocade corn. The corn went in mostly for its screening ability but we might enjoy a few ears when it ripens if we get enough pollination on our modest little patch of six plants.


I started some basil in a pot, and I'll transplant it into the garden beds once it gets a few more leaves. I'm looking forward to one of my favorite summer dishes: sliced tomatoes and fresh mozarella dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a chiffonade of basil leaves.

With the ripening Meyer lemons, I can also envision sipping a home-made lemon drop on the deck this summer. Bon appetit!

Pregnant with possibilities

Isn't this exciting?!? Dirt. Lots of dirt. Here's a different view:

Still a lot of dirt. There's actually not much to recommend it at this stage except that it's grass-free dirt.

Once the MulchMaid amends it and plants it, though, it's going to be the beginnings of a dining room screen from the sidewalk. The house is on a corner lot and seems to get twice as much pedestrian traffic. That's great, except when dinner is happening in the dining room. Then people seem compelled to stare straight in as they pass. So the MulchMaids just need a little visual diversion.

Here are a couple of the plants waiting in the wings to be put in. There's an Arbequina olive, and a big pot of Zagreb coreopsis. The MulchMaid might even let the montbretia out of its pot, if it promises not to be too rampant. The little loropetalum chinensis 'Sizzling Pink' is on its way elsewhere...Mr. Mulchmaid is not happy with the foliage color, which was supposed to be purple, not bronze.

Also coming right along and looking quite promising are some young cannas.

The Violette de Bordeaux fig is finally making some lovely long leaves.

The Meyer lemon has come outside for the summer. It lives in the south-facing breakfast room, and bloomed profusely from December to April. But it lost a significant number of leaves and formed no new ones in all that time. Mr. Mulchmaid was concerned that this was virtual suicide, so he took off all the resulting fruit except the two you can see below. Just last week, the first set of new leaves showed!

Last, a Pyracantha "Mojave", covered with white buds. The MulchMaid predicts the flowers will be open and attracting fat bumblebees by this coming weekend.

Tiny flowers for Bloom Day

The only things blooming at Longview Ranch on May 15th are minute.

A tiny dianthus, species long since forgotten, that I've had for years in a trough.

This first helianthemum is quite demure, and appropriately named "The Bride".

But what's this? Color! A orange-red sunrose doing its best to cover the many feet of mulched garden still available for planting.

And this? A bright magenta helianthemum (maybe "Raspberry Dazzler"... I dunno.)

So now you know my secret: whorish, gypsy-colored blooms delight me in tiny doses.

Bamboo U

Longview Ranch has a strangely-shaped backyard: there are two larger areas north and south, with a narrow bottleneck in the center back. This center space is the view through a bay of three windows in the sunny breakfast room where we spend a lot of daylight hours.

Also immediately visible is our eastside neighbor's driveway and house with windows looking directly at our windows. We needed green privacy everywhere in our backyard, but we especially wanted it as quickly as possible there. The solution? Bamboo.

Below is a shot of the backyard area in original condition except the plastic vanes have been removed from the lovely chain link fence. Note the neighbor's teenage pin oak, another factor we need to consider as we garden this area.

The future bamboo planting area in spring 2008.

Above, the fence is painted black - looks better already, right?


A shot of the grass removal in spring 2008. It was so much fun to see how quickly the transformations occurred from this point on.

In our last garden, we had bamboo with no barrier. For years, we worked intensively to keep it under control. This time, we were going to be smart and save ourselves lots of future work: we would have an approved bamboo barrier installed by the landscape crew.


The soil has been added and incorporated into the beds.

Oops, a communication problem with the crew: the bamboo barrier was supposed to be installed before the soil was added. This will mean a lot of extra digging.


These two photos are reversed: below, the barrier is being installed in the three-foot-deep trench dug to hold it. Above, the trench is being backfilled after the barrier is in place.


The finished installation. We started out with the bamboo in a row resulting in minimum visual excitement but maximum privacy coverage.

Late summer 2008. The bamboo just took off - those plants were happy!

Then we went to the Hardy Plant Society's fall sale. We spent some time there talking to a very knowledgeable bamboo grower, who convinced the Mulch Man that the bamboo barrier was not a long-term solution to containing bamboo. He advocated for using a trench system.

The concept is to dig an 18" deep trench at least a foot wide, then fill it with sand or another soft material. Several times a year, you run a tool through the sand to find any shoots that are growing through the sand and you cut them. Apparently, because the bamboo is not encountering the resistance of the barrier, it will stay shallow and easy to locate in the sand. The existing barrier needs to be cut away down to 16-18", so the sand is directly in contact with the soil.

So that's what we did.
Above and below, you can see the sand installed in the trench around the bamboo planting bed.

We moved one plant forward as part of this second phase, since the bamboo was growing so robustly and we already had great coverage.

The jury's out on this method. I'm looking forward to being able to report positively in the future. But I hope that even if it's not the perfect solution, we will at least have bought ourselves a few years of lower maintenance.

As my dear old dad would say "On vera."